Could the cocker shoot farther?!

[trains are bad]

the reason snipers use single shot closed bolt action is because it holds more psi behind the bullet while in the barrel

Oh man...this is just a nugget.. there is so much firearms BS being spewed in this thread my office is starting to stink.

*Addressed to AO*

Please do not offer advice to someone on something you know nothing about.

Thanks for attempting to set them straight doc (and others)

This is my favorite so far:

The other reason that snipers use the closed bolt, *as opposed to the nonexistent 'open bolt' apparently* bolt action is for silence. It allows them to very quietly, and on their own terms remove a spent cartridge and load a new one. With a semi auto, it would re-chamber this cartridge automatically, which could give away the snipers position by either sound and/or visibility

[Chris42050]

This thread is very interesting even if it is off topic. I havent read a reason WHY they make sniper rifle's single shot. There must be a reason it is loaded the way it is. All that I have read says they usually only make single shot sniper rifle's. WHY? Its not by accident. If they could load faster and have the same accuracy, range, etc. then they would.

P.S. I read thru this thread quickly so I may have missed someones explanation.

[DeeEight]

Re: Could the cocker shoot farther?!

Originally posted by Magluvr
Ok....

So essentially if the bore was loose enough on the ball, it wouldn't stop the roll, and actually cause the ball's trajectory down range to drop more than it should.

Except....

#1 With most every open bolt marker I've ever seen, the gas isn't actually released until the bolt has shoved the ball into the breech/reached the end of its travel. So the speed at which it might be rolling is MINOR compared to how fast its about to be accelerated up to. Flatline barrels impart the backspin by rolling a ball along the upper surface of the entire length of the barrel while its accelerating under gas pressure.

#2 If the gun has any kind of anti-double feed involving a single contact point in the breech (side nubbins, detent ball, etc, anything other than an o-ring surrounding the whole breach/barrel), then the ball would be most likely to catch on it when being pushed by the bolt and spin in whatever direction the anti-double feed was. So if its on the left, it'd tend to be a left spin. Except there's been zero evidence of guns with left side ball detents only arcing left in flight.

#3 Its going to have to be a REALLY smaller paint to barrel bore for it to keep a spin going in whatever direction it started. The Galactic Systems Z-body for the Mags had a small adjustable nubbin, but in most all Mag reviews, if the testers didn't use a really overbore barrel, what resulted was at most 10 to 20 feet more range (vs the 100 feet more range M98 owners were getting from flatline barrels). Lapco actually made a Z-barrel version of the bigshot in a .697" bore, just for the Z-body, to ensure good backspin down the barrel for the ball.

The only bolts that actually produce backspin are things like the Cooper-T better bolts, and even then, you still need smaller paint than the barrel to maintain the backspin.

[DeeEight]

Originally posted by Chris42050
This thread is very interesting even if it is off topic. I havent read a reason WHY they make sniper rifle's single shot. There must be a reason it is loaded the way it is. All that I have read says they usually only make single shot sniper rifle's. WHY? Its not by accident. If they could load faster and have the same accuracy, range, etc. then they would.

The most fundamental reason had always been that most bolt-action rifles were better made than gas-action designs, had heavier barrels, better stocks, etc. Plus they usually chambered a much heavier caliber. Several countries use a gas-action design though. The russian SVD is a prime example, as well as the Israeli Galil Sniper rifle, or the american M21 (which is a version of the M14), and yugoslavia had the M76 (which is similar to the SVD but is usually used in the old german 7.92mm caliber instead of the old russian 7.62x54R cartridge).

[Chris42050]

still confused why they are better Deeeight. Cant these countries just make a gas powered gun thats just as good or is there a reason they cant?

[bryceeden]

They could, but it would cost alot more. There are several good semi-auto sniper rifles like the WA-2000 and such, but in general they cost more than they are worth.